Electric wire cover peeling tool

ABSTRACT

A wire cover peeling tool having a body that includes a clamp receiver and a grip. A clamp arm and an operation lever are pivotally coupled to the clamp receiver. A first slider slides within a groove of the clamp receiver and is coupled to a second slider that slides within a groove of the clamp arm. Blades extend inwardly from the tip of each slider for peeling an electrical wire cover. The blades, the sliders and the clamp arm are coupled to the operation lever 5 via a link unit. When the operation lever is pivoted, the blades and sliders cut a portion of the cover and extract the cut cover portion from a core of the wire.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Industrial Field of Utilization

The present invention relates to an electric wire cover peeling tool forpeeling an insulation cover covering the outside of an electric wire.

2. Description of the Prior Art

The following tools have been conventionally used for peeling the coverfrom an electric wire, for example, a tool illustrated in FIG. 10includes semicircular blades 28a and 29a respectively at tips of a pairof handling rods 28 and 29 rotatably supported in an X shape. Anelectric wire (not shown in FIG. 10) is held between the upper and lowerblades 28a and 29a so that a cover of a tip of the electric wire may bepulled off the end of the wire. Another conventional tool described inJapanese TOKKYO KOKAI S52-18910 and illustrated in FIG. 11 is forholding an electric wire between a pair of movable rods 30 and 31respectively arranging a cutter 30a on one rod and a handle 31a on theother rod to make the movable rods 30 and 31 open pivotally under thiscondition, thereby pushing the electric wire cover positioned at anouter portion of the cutter 30a (i.e., the right side in FIG. 11)outwardly.

Among the mentioned-above conventional electric wire cover peelingtools, the one illustrated in FIG. 10 requires handling the handlingrods while extracting the wire cover, thereby causing problems such asdamage to a core of the wire. Furthermore, the operational efficiency ofthe device may be poor.

Moreover, in the conventional device illustrated in FIG. 11, an electricwire is bent at the time the movable rods are pivotally opened so thatan insulation cover cannot be smoothly pulled out, which may damage thecore wire. Moreover, the operation requires a power source such as anair compressor or the like thereby increasing equipment cost and beinginferior because a body of the tool is connected to power source via anair hose or the like.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

The present invention is directed to solving problems with theseconventional electric wire cover peeling tools.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, an electric wirecover peeling tool for peeling an insulation cover of an electric wirecomprises a body having a clamp receiver at one side thereof defining ajaw. The body further has a grip at a second side thereof, a clamp armrotatably connected to the body so as to be movable toward and away fromthe clamp receiver, and an operation lever rotatably connected to thebody so as to be movable toward and away from the grip. The tool canfurther include a first slider slidably engaged with the clamp receiver,a second slider slidably engaged with the clamp arm, and a link assemblycoupled between the operation lever and the clamp arm and between theoperation lever and the second slider, for transmitting movement of theoperation lever to the clamp arm and the second slider. A biasing deviceis coupled to the second slider for urging the second slider in aselected direction relative to the body via the link assembly.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a side view showing an electric wire cover peeling toolaccording to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view along line A--A in FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a plan view of the peeling tool illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of the peeling tool illustratedin FIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a longitudinal sectional view of a state in the middle of anoperation of the peeling tool illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 6 is a longitudinal sectional view of a state at completion of theoperation of the peeling tool illustrated in FIG. 1.

FIG. 7 is a front view of a state prior to the operation of bladesemployed by the electric wire cover peeling tool according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 8 is a front view of the operating state of the blades employed forthe peeling tool for electric wire cover according to the presentinvention.

FIG. 9 is a side view of the operating state of the blades employed forthe electric wire cover peeling tool according to the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a schematic side view of a conventional apparatus.

FIG. 11 is a partially omitted side view of another conventionalapparatus.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Referring now to the drawings, an embodiment of the invention isdescribed in detail below.

FIG. 1 is a side view showing the electric wire cover peeling toolaccording to the present invention. FIG. 2 is a sectional view alongline A--A in FIG. 1. FIG. 3 is a plan view of the peeling toolillustrated in FIG. 1. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional view of thepeeling tool illustrated in FIG. 1. As shown in the Figures, the peelingtool for an electric wire cover according to the present inventionincludes a body 1 formed to have a clamp receiver 2 toward the frontside thereof (i.e., the left side in FIG. 1) which defines a jaw. Thebody 1 further includes a grip 3 toward the back (i.e., the right sidein FIG. 1) lower side thereof. In the illustrated embodiment, the gripis textured. A clamp arm 4 is rotatably coupled to the body 1 by a shaft17 so as to be movable toward and away from the clamp receiver 2, and anoperation lever 5 is rotatably coupled to the body 1 by a shaft 19 so asto be movable toward and away from the grip 3. In the illustratedembodiment, the operation lever has a number of indentations forreceiving human fingers.

The clamp arm 4 is provided with a holding portion 4a at a tip thereofto face downward. The clamp arm 4 further includes a guide groove 4b forslidably guiding a second slider 6 in a longitudinal direction (theright and left directions in FIG. 4).

The clamp receiver 2 includes a holding portion 2a opposite to theholding portion 4a positioned at the upper side of the tip thereof. Theclamp receiver 2 includes a guide groove 2b for slidably guiding a firstslider 7 in a longitudinal direction (i.e., the right and leftdirections in FIG. 4).

Furthermore, both sliders 6 and 7 are engaged with each other byengagement portions 6a and 7a positioned at respective back portionsthereof so as to be movable together. In the illustrated embodiment,engagement portion 6a is a tab and engagement portion 7a is a slot.

The tool further includes a link unit having link members 14 and 15. Thelink member 15 has one end connected to the body 1 by the shaft 17 ofthe clamp arm 4 and the other end connected to the operation lever 5 bya shaft 18. The other link member 14 has one end connected to the secondslider 6 by a shaft 21 and the other end connected to the link member 15by a shaft 22. A pin 23 is positioned in the middle of the link member14. The pin 23 is urged to the front upper side by a kick spring 16which is attached at the back portion of the body 1. An axle 20 fixes acenter of the kick spring 16.

Both sliders 6 and 7 are provided with blades 8 and 9 for peeling theelectric wire cover. The blades 8 and 9 extend inwardly proximate to thetips of the holding portion 2a and 4a. As shown in FIG. 7 to FIG. 9, theblades 8 and 9 respectively include angular notches 8a and 9a at eachedge of the blades 8 and 9. In cutting the electric wire cover asmentioned below, the tips thereof overlap each other thereby connectingthem.

A stopper 10 is arranged at the second slider 6 by a fixing screw 13 soas to be adjustable. A brake collar 11 is arranged at the second slider6 by a screw 12 so as to prevent the slider 6 from sliding, such as byoperation of friction. A slide bore 6b is arranged for controlling afixing position of the stopper 10.

Operation of the electric wire cover peeling tool of the presentinvention having the above structure is described below.

First, the fixing screw 13 is loosened before moving the stopper 10 movealong the slide bore 6b, thereby determining the measure of the electricwire cover to be peeled, (i.e., the measure being equal to a distancebetween the blade 8 and the stopper 10). The stopper 10 is fixed at thedesired position by tightening the screw 13. Next, the stopper 10contacts an end of an electric wire 24 when the electric wire 24 isinserted from the tip of the peeling tool (i.e., the left side in FIG.4), while the user holds the grip 3 and the operation lever 5. Then, theoperation lever 5 is rotated counterclockwise about the shaft 19,whereby the link member 15 connected to the operation lever 5 is rotatedcounterclockwise, centering around the shaft 17. As a result, via thelink member 14 connected to the link member 15 and the second slider 6connected to the link member 14, the clamp lever 4 is rotated toward theclamp receiver 2 about the shaft 17. As the operation lever 5 is rotatedcounterclockwise, the second slider 6 is slidably arranged at the clamparm 4, the second slider 6 is urged forward by the kick spring 16 whichacts through the link member 14 and the brake collar 11 contacts aninner surface of the clamp arm 4 with the result that the brake collar11 does not slide as it frictionally restricts motion of the secondslider 6 during this phase of the operation.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 5, the electric wire 24 is held betweenholding portions 4a and 2a. At the same time, as shown in FIG. 8 andFIG. 9, the tips of the blades 8 and 9 overlap each other and theangular notches 8a and 9a bite into the cover surrounding the electricwire 24, thereby cutting the cover for separation.

When the operation lever 5 is rotated further in a direction of the grip3, the clamp arm 4 cannot be rotated further and the second slider 6connected to the operation lever 5 via the link members 15 and 14overcomes urging force of the kick spring 16 and sliding resistance ofthe brake collar 11 to move to the right side along the guide groove 4bof the clamp arm 4. At this time, the first slider 7 including theengagement portion 7a engaged with the engagement portion 6a of thesecond slider 6 is synchronously driven with the slider 6 along theguide groove 2b. Therefore, the blades 8 and 9 arranged at tips of theboth sliders 6 and 7 bite into a cover 24b of the electric wire 24,which is stripped to expose a core wire 24a, as shown in FIG. 6.

After the electric wire cover 24b is peeled in this way and theoperation is completed, the user releases the operation lever 5 so thatthe link member 14 urged by the kick spring 16 is pushed up to the upperside and pushed out to the left side with the result that the secondslider 6 connected to the link member 14 and the first slider 7 engagedwith the second slider 6 moves to the left side. The clamp arm 4 isrotated about the shaft 17, and both sliders 6 and 7 and the clamp arm 4return to the initial operating position, as shown in FIG. 1 to FIG. 4.

Though the above embodiment illustrates that the upper and lower blades8 and 9 are respectively provided with the angular notches 8a and 9a,the notches 8a and 9a may be any other shape such as semicircular andoval so long as they have shapes that bite into the cover 24a of theelectric wire 24. Furthermore, the notches 8a and 9a may be arranged ona surface of a blade in a number of rows having different sizesaccording to diameter of the electric wire 24 or the like.

What is claimed is:
 1. An electric wire cover peeling tool for peelingan insulation cover of an electric wire comprising:a body having a clampreceiver at a first side thereof defining a jaw having a first tip toengage one portion of the insulation cover and a grip at a second sidethereof, a clamp arm rotatably connected to the body so as to berotatable toward and away from the clamp receiver, the clamp arm havinga second tip opposite the first tip, the second tip to engage anotherportion of the insulation cover, an operation lever rotatably connectedto the body so as to be rotatable toward and away from the grip, a firstslider slidably engaged with the clamp receiver and slidable in alongitudinal direction relative to the clamp receiver, a second sliderslidably engaged with the clamp arm and slidable in a longitudinaldirection relative to the clamp arm, one of the first and second slidershaving a tab, the other of the first and second sliders having a slotfor receiving the tab to couple the first and second sliders and movethe first and second sliders simultaneously, first and second bladeseach coupled to at least one of the sliders for cutting into the wirecover; a link assembly, each connected between the operation lever andthe clamp arm and between the operation lever and the second slider, fortransmitting movement of the operation lever to the clamp arm and thesecond slider, and a biasing device coupled to the second slider forurging the second slider in a selected direction relative to the bodyvia the link assembly.
 2. An electric wire cover peeling tool accordingto claim 1, further comprising a stopper for contacting a tip of theelectric wire thereby regulating a peeling length of the electric wirecover.
 3. The tool of claim 1 wherein at least one of the first andsecond blades has a notch for receiving the electric wire.
 4. A The toolof claim 1 wherein the grip is textured.
 5. The tool of claim 1 whereinthe operation lever includes indentations for receiving human fingers.6. The tool of claim 1 wherein the first slider includes the tab and thesecond slider includes the slot, the tab being positioned at leastpartially within the slot and being movable within the slot.
 7. The toolof claim 1 wherein the biasing device includes a spring having a firstend pressed against the clamp receiver and a second end pressed againsta portion of the link assembly.
 8. The tool of claim 1 wherein the linkassembly includes a first link and a second link, the first link havinga first end and a second end, the first link being pivotably coupledtoward the first end to the operation lever and pivotably coupled towardthe second end to the body, the second link having a first end and asecond end and being pivotably coupled toward the first end to the firstlink and being pivotably coupled toward the second end to the secondslider.
 9. The tool of claim 1, further comprising a stopper adjustablycoupled to the second slider and movable relative to the first andsecond blades, the stopper having an engaging surface for engaging anend of the electric wire.
 10. The tool of claim 1, further comprising afriction brake engaged with the second slider to inhibit motion of thesecond slider.
 11. A tool for removing insulation from an electricalwire, comprising:a body having a first end and a second end opposite thefirst end, the body having a first engaging portion toward the first endfor engaging the insulation of the wire, the body having a grip portiontoward the second end; an arm pivotably coupled to the body and having asecond engaging portion proximate to and movable relative to the firstengaging portion for engaging the insulation of the wire; a leverpivotably coupled to the body and rotatable toward and away from thegrip portion; a first slider slidably engaged with the body; a secondslider slidably engaged with the arm, the first and second sliders beingslidably engaged with each other to move simultaneously; first andsecond blades each coupled to at least one of the sliders; a linkassembly having at most two members pivotably coupled between the leverand the second slider to move the second slider relative to the arm whenthe lever is moved relative to the grip portion of the body; and abiasing device coupled between the second slider and the body to biasthe second slider in a selected direction relative to the grip portionof the body.
 12. The tool of claim 11 wherein the first slider includesa tab and the second slider includes the slot, the tab being positionedat least partially within the slot and being movable within the slot.13. The tool of claim 11 wherein the biasing device includes a springhaving a first end pressed against the body and a second end pressedagainst a portion of the link assembly.
 14. The tool of claim 11 whereinthe link assembly includes a first link and a second link, the firstlink having a first end and a second end, the first link being pivotablycoupled toward the first end to the lever and pivotably coupled towardthe second end to the body, the second link having a first end and asecond end and being pivotably coupled toward the first end to the firstlink and being pivotably coupled toward the second end to the secondslider.
 15. The tool of claim 11, further comprising a stopperadjustably coupled to the second slider and movable relative to thefirst and second blades, the stopper having an engaging surface forengaging an end of the electric wire.
 16. The tool of claim 11, furthercomprising a friction brake engaged with the second slider to inhibitmotion of the second slider.